Badminton Team Makes a Racket

Badminton season at school has started, and the SMHS team members are practicing hard in preparation for their matches. Official games started at the beginning of March, and will continue to take place every Tuesday and Thursday until the end of April. The team is playing in the Bay Division of the Peninsula Athletic League, along with seven other schools.

Coaches Rachell Berania and Matt Fong are currently coaching the badminton team. Coach Rachell, or just Coach R, has coached badminton for two years prior to joining SMHS, making this her third year of coaching.

In badminton, players play matches either individually or with a partner, but it’s not like some other team sports, where everyone works together to score points. “It’s much like tennis, where if you win your match, it’s a point towards the final team score,” said Coach R. “Everyone’s wins are equally as important, because even if you win your match, but no one else does, the overall team loses.” There are different categories that players can play in: girls and boys singles, girls and boys doubles and mixed doubles, where a girl and a boy play doubles together.

“We’re up against some really tough schools in this division,” said Coach R. “A lot of badminton athletes from other schools train at the local badminton centers under nationally ranked players, so I can understand the intimidation that our team may feel. Our team has got some talent of our own, and time, hard work and spirit will get us to where we need to be ― to play each match with 100% effort, to learn what it’s like to be a student-athlete and to have fun playing this sport.”

Players on the team are trying hard to do well on their upcoming matches. “Like all sports, trying your best and never giving up are always important,” said Annie Zhang, a senior and one of the captains of the badminton team. “One awesome part of badminton is the different people you meet; ones part of your team and ones you meet during a game.”

The team members also have different reasons for joining the team. “When I saw so many people trying out for the team, I decided that I also wanted to be part of it,” said Annie.

“I played a bit in 6th grade and when I saw that the sport was offered at San Mateo, I decided to pick it up again,” said Manasi Surve, freshman.

“I chose to join because I thought it was fun, and also because I didn’t join last year,” said Matthias Yeung, sophomore. “I like to play badminton because it is an indoors sport, and also it is still moderately competitive and demanding.”

The badminton team still has quite a few games to look forward to, so go out and support SMHS at the upcoming badminton matches!